AU.A chance encounter lands a teen runaway in Balamb garden. but while shes falling for gardens bad boy seifer, the quiet and mysterious squall is falling for her...and things get way more than complicated..love always is.[Seinoa,squinoa]

Disclaimer:I do not own final fantasy 8. i wish i did. i really really wish i did. but als, i do not.

Note: ok, bit of a better summary. This is an Au story and it basically is about what happens when new girl Rinoa turns up at garden after Squall saves her life. She is attracted to Seifers "bad boy" charm and immmediately starts to fall for him, but she is unaware of Who is falling for her and what will it take her to realise that there maybe someone more suitable for her out there. and when she realises who she really wants she could be too late. so there you go. this is my first attempt at Au so sorry if it sucks. i warn you the first chapters a lil strange.lol. i have this ongoing at the same time as another story, but they'll both have quick updates now, as i'm off school for a while so i'll get loads of time to write. Ok well thanks to Wayne as he is one of the only reasons i keep writing, as i know he'll keep reading and also thanks to hannah the other reason i keep writing and my best mate and best plot bunny helper. love ya!!. well hope y'all like the story.

Squall Leonheart looked up at the sky. It was starting to darken, the first stars starting to appear. The young Garden student glanced at his watch. 9.25pm. Practically curfew. Figuring he should probably head back to Garden he started making his way through the densely wooden forest, weaving through the trees. The forests on Balamb were amongst Squalls favourite places to train ; the monsters were beatable, yet still challenging. But as he pushed through the trees a loud scream pierced the silent night.

Immediately he reached for his gun blade and scanned the area around him, but he couldn't see anyone. After a few seconds he carried on walking but there came another scream, this one louder and nearer. Then there was a sudden rustling in the trees a few yards behind Squall, and a few seconds later a young girl emerged form the trees crying hysterically and running at a frantic speed. She was staring straight at the ground and ran nearly right past Squall. He reached out and grabbed the girls arm and pulled her so she was standing in front of him.

"hey are you…."But before he had a chance to finish his question the girl started to struggle violently against his grip

"Just let go of me." she cried, tears flowing down her face "I gave you everything I had. Just let me go!!!!" she pushed herself with all her strength out if his grip and spun around, obviously intending to run back in the direction she came from. But after another few seconds there was more rustling in the trees and then two guys appeared.

"What the hell" Squall muttered, starting to become alarmed by the situation.

The girl, upon seeing the two people, screamed again and tried to run past them, but one of the guys grabbed her by the arm and dragged her towards him.

"no!! please just let me go!!" she wailed still trying to shake off his grip. "Somebody Help me" she screamed.

Squall figured it was about time he intervened-this situation didn't seem exactly positive.

One of the two guys-neither of whom had noticed Squall for some reason-started dragging the girl back into the trees when the other finally noticed Squall. He was about 25, tall well built and had an evil glint in his eye.

"Who the hell are you kid?"

"What's going on?' Squall demanded

"None of your damn businesses" the guy hissed clenching his fists, obviously preparing for a fight. He was clearly planning to take out Squall, he being the only witness to whatever these guys were doing with this random girl.

"Let the girl go"

The guy laughed "hero are we?". He lunged towards Squall, throwing a quick punch which he managed to dodge. Squall quickly drew his gun blade and assumed a fighting stance

"What the…" the guy said obviously stunned by the fact Squall was in fact armed.

He glanced at his friend, then glanced back at Squall. Then he turned and ran back into the trees. His friend, seeing this, releases his grip on the girl, dropping her to the floor and followed his friend in running away from Squall.

The young girl was pushing herself of the ground slowly and Squall could still hear her crying. "Are you ok?" he asked approaching the girl, who now standing, was for some reason swaying backwards and forwards. She didn't answer but she looked at him, but tat that moment she seemed just to collapse falling backwards. Squall, who rather luckily had very quick reflexes, reached out and caught the girl about a millisecond before she hit the ground.

He pressed his fingers against her neck, searching for a pulse. Weak as it was, he finally found one. Whatever had happened to this girl had been pretty serious, as Squall could see red marks all around the girls neck, were someone had clearly grabbed her by the throat. Squall became more and more intrigued by this mysterious situation and the mysterious girl. Her clothes were torn and covered in dust and dirt and her arms and hands were covered in cuts and little bruises. Realising that he had actually not yet seen the face of this random girl he brushed aside the mass of tangled jet black hair that had been covering her face. Her face was covered in smears of dirt, cuts and he could see the tracks of the tears she'd cried. But underneath it all it was fairly obvious that she had a beautiful face. Her skin was pale and soft and her features were delicate and gentle. She was a young girl, Squall guessed 17 at the oldest. Squall was contemplating exactly what he should do next when he noticed something silver sparkling on the ground a few inches away. He reached out and picked it up. It was a silver chain, holding a small silver ring and it seemed to shine almost strangely in the light of two stars which had appeared almost directly above were Squall sat, the young girl lying unconscious next to him. He put the chain in his pocket, and then unsure of what else to do, he picked the girl up and started to head back through the forest to Balamb garden…..

When Squall finally reached Garden he headed straight for the infirmary, were for some reason Headmaster cid was sitting having tea with Dr Kadowaki. Both sets of eyes fixated on Squall.

One eyebrow raised, Cid said "Who on earth is that girl?"

"I don't know" Squall said lying the girl down on one of the beds in the infirmary rooms "I found her"

Cid, with a puzzled expression repeated "you…found her.."

Dr Kadowaki, who was by now examining the young girl said "There's quite a lot of cuts and bruises, and her breathing is not very strong at all. What in the world is going on Squall?"

Squall rubbed his forehead and brushed his hair out of his face. He realised how strange this must have seemed to other people. "I don't know what happened. She was…attacked or something, she was being chased and then there were these guys and she was really scared and she just collapsed. So I couldn't just leave her were I found her"

"Were did all this happen?" Cid asked concernedly

"Out in the forest. I was training when she just…appeared. Is she gonna be ok Dr Kadowaki?"

"Hmmmm" the Doctor paused to check the girls pulse "She should be fine. Mostly they seem like surface wounds, nothing internal. Of course I'll need to examine her properly. But it's most likely that she collapsed due to stress or fear or exhaustion." the Doctor glanced at Squall and could see that there was a look of worry hiding in his cold blue eyes "There's not really a lot we can do at the moment. You should go and get some rest Squall, and if you wish come back in the morning to check on her"

Squall nodded and left the infirmary. Rest seemed so appealing. His body was tired and aching and he threw himself on his bed as soon as he got to his dorm room. But as he lay in the dark he couldn't seem to stop thinking about the nights strange events. He wondered what would have happened to the girl if he had not been there. And every time he closed his eyes he couldn't seem to shake the image of this girls face from his mind. He kept seeing her face with all it's beauty and innocence underneath the cuts and marks.